Monday, September 23, 2019

Jonathan's Space Report, No. 769

Jonathan's Space Report
No. 769                                                       2019 Sep 22   Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Space Station
---------------------------

Expedition 60 continues.

Soyuz MS-14, flying without a crew, completed a rendezvous with the ISS
at 0513 UTC on Aug 24. However, at 0532 UTC after a flyaround at a
distance of 400 metres, it failed to lock on to the Kurs system on the
Poisk module. It was later determined that Poisk's system was not
working correctly. The crew sent the abort signal at 0536 UTC and the
Soyuz was ordered to retreat to a safe distance.

On Aug 26 astronauts Skvortsov, Parmitano and Morgan undocked from the
Zvezda module in Soyuz MS-13 at 0335 UTC and redocked with the Poisk
module at 0359 UTC. This left the Zvezda module, with its working Kurs
system, free for a second docking attempt for Soyuz MS-14.
On Aug 27 at 0308 UTC Soyuz MS-14 indeed succeeded in docking with the
Zvezda aft port, delivering cargo and the Fyodor robot.

On Aug 27 the Canadarm-2 unberthed Dragon CRS-18 from the Harmony nadir
port and released it into orbit at 1459 UTC. Dragon fired its Draco
thrusters for a 12m53s deorbit burn at 1922 UTC and splashed down at
about 123.6W 32.5N at 2021 UTC.

The Fyodor robot was loaded back into Soyuz MS-14 along with some
return cargo and Soyuz MS-14 undocked from Zvezda at 1814 UTC Sep 6,
landing in Kazakhstan at 2132 UTC to complete its test flight.

Robotic operations were carried on Sep 3 to Sep 5 on two Main Bus
Switching Units (MBSUs). MSBU 3 (S/N X700385) was brought inside Kibo
from ELC-2 for repairs and then returned outside to ESP-2. MBSU 1 (S/N
C250636) was brought inside Kibo from ESP-2 and will be returned to
Earth on the next Dragon flight.



Cygnus NG-11
------------

On Aug 29 the Aerocube-10a satellite, released from Cygnus NG-11, itself
released its first atmospheric probe, labelled Venturini in the US satellite
catalog.

On Sep 16 Cygnus NG-11 released the Seeker cubesat, which was designed to
perform proximity operations with Cygnus.

Geo-IK
-------

On Aug 30 Russia launched the Geo-IK-2 No. 13L (Nusson-2 No. 13L, codename Kosmos-2540)
geodetic satellite.

KX-09
-----

KX-09 is a Chinese Academy of Sciences microgravity research satellite, launched on the
small Kuaizhou-1A launcher. A 6U cubesat from Tianyi Research, Xiaoxiang-1 07 xing, was
also aboard.

ZY-1
----

The 1840 kg Ziyuan-1 02D xing imaging satellite was launched on Sep 12 by CZ-4B. The launch
also carried two small satellites: Jingshi 1 is a 16 kg imaging satellite from Beijing
Normal University; Jinniuzuo naxing is a 3U cubesat from Shanghai ASES Spaceflight Technology
Co Ltd which is testing a drag sail.


Zhuhai-1 Group 3
----------------

The Zhuhai yiaho 03 zu (Zhuhai-1 Group 3) cluster was launched by CZ-11 on Sep 19.
The cluster consists of one video satellite and four hyperspectral imaging satellites
for the Zhuhai Orbital company. Each satellite has a name to commemorate a sponsor:
    
    Sat     Name                    Sponsor

    OVS-3   Chunlei Jihua Zhixing   Zhuhai Orbit Co, China Children and Teens Foundation
    OHS-3A  Xiahaian 1              West Coast New District Govt, Qindao, Shandong Prov.
    OHS-3B  Feitian Maotai          Guizhou Maotai Distillery Co.
    OHS-3C  Gaomi-1                 Gaomi City Govt, Shandong Prov.
    OHS-3D  GuoyuanV9               Jiangsu Jinshiyuan Wine Co Ltd.

Chandrayaan-2
-------------

The Vikram lander separated from the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter at 0745 UTC
Sep 2. It carried out a landing attempt on Sep 6, but lost attitude and
contact at an altitude of 2.3 km. It appears that Vikram impacted the
surface at about 2023 UTC not far from the planned landing iste at 70.9S
22.7E.

Hayabusa-2
----------

On Sep 16 Hayabusa-2 released two 10-cm-diameter target markers (TM-E at 1617 UTC
and TM-C at 1624 UTC) about 1 km above the surface of Ryugu. The spacecraft is observing
the target markers as they descend slowly in Ryugu's weak gravitational field. The
TMs are expected to impact the surface by Sep 23.

Table of Recent Orbital Launches
 ----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle        Site            Mission       INTL.   Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl   Notes

Aug  5 2156   Kosmos-2539                Proton/Briz-M     Baykonur LC81/24 Comms     48A  S44457  35673 x 35851 x  0.0
Aug  6 1930   EDRS C         )           Ariane 5 ECA      Kourou ELA3      Comms     49A  S44475?   217 x 35528 x  4.5
              Intelsat IS-39 )                                              Comms     49B  S44476?   231 x 35801 x  4.5
Aug  6 2323   AMOS 17                    Falcon 9          Canaveral SLC40  Comms     50A  S44479    215 x 35733 x 26.0
Aug  6 or 7?  RTFSat          )                          Chaffee, LEO       Tech      22G  S44417    470 x   485 x 51.6
              Quantum Radar 3 )                                             Tech      22F  S44416    470 x   485 x 51.6
              NARSScube-2     )                                             Tech      22H  S44418    470 x   485 x 51.6
              ORCA            )                                             Tech      22E  S44415    470 x   485 x 51.6
Aug  7 1300   Aerocube-10a  )                            Chaffee, LEO       Tech      22D  S44485    471 x   485 x 51.7
              Aerocube-10b  )                                               Tech      22C  S44484    469 x   481 x 51.7
Aug  8 1013   AEHF 5 )                   Atlas V 551       Canaveral SLC41  Comms     51A  S44481  14366 x 35286 x 10.0
              TDO    )                                                      Sp.Surv.  51B  S44482    207 x 35259 x 26.4
Aug 17 0411   Qiancheng-1 01 )           Jielong-1         Jiuquan          Imaging   52A  S44486    532 x   559 x 97.6
              Xingshidai-5   )                                              Tech      52   S44487?   529 x   559 x 97.6
              Tianqi-2       )                                              Comms     52   S44488?   529 x   560 x 97.6
Aug 19 1203   Zhongxing-18               Chang Zheng 3B    Xichang          Comms     53A  S44493    228 x 35879 x 28.4
Aug 19 1212   BlackSky Global 4)         Electron          Mahia            Imaging   54   S44496?   531 x   558 x 45.0
              Pearl White 1    )                                            Tech      54   S44497?   531 x   558 x 45.0
              Pearl White 2    )                                            Tech      54   S44498?   531 x   558 x 45.0
              BRO-ONE          )                                            Sigint    54   S44499?   531 x   558 x 45.0
Aug 22 0338   Soyuz MS-14                Soyuz-2-1a        Baykonur LC31    Spaceship  55A S44504    194 x   226 x 51.6
Aug 22 1306   GPS III SV02               Delta 4M+(4,2)    Canaveral SLC37B Navigation 56A S44506   1199 x 20177 x 55.0
Aug 29?       AC-10 Probe 1                               AC-10a, LEO       Atmosphere 22J S44516    471 x   484 x 51.6
Aug 30 1400   Geo-IK-2 No. 13            Rokot             Plesetsk LC133   Geodesy    57A S44517    945 x   958 x 99.3
Aug 30 2341   KX-09   )                  Kuaizhou-1A       Jiuquan          Micrograv  58B S44520    592 x   609 x 97.8
              XX-1 07 )                                                     Imaging    58A S44519    592 x   607 x 97.8
Sep 12 0326   Zi Yuan 1 02D   )          Chang Zheng 4B    Taiyuan          Imaging    59A S44528?   748 x   758 x 98.6
              Jingshi 1       )                                             Imaging    59B S44529?   732 x   750 x 98.6
              Jinniuzuo naxing)                                             Tech       59C S44530?   731 x   750 x 98.6
Sep 16        Seeker                                      Chaffee, LEO      Tech       22K S44533    466 x   484 x 51.6
Sep 19 0642   OVS-3  )                   Chang Zheng 11    Jiuquan          Imaging    60A S44534?   494 x   512 x 97.4
              OHS-3A )                                                      Imaging    60C S44536?   494 x   511 x 97.4
              OHS-3B )                                                      Imaging    60D S44537?   494 x   511 x 97.4
              OHS-3C )                                                      Imaging    60E S44538?   494 x   511 x 97.4
              OHS-3D )                                                      Imaging    60F S44539?   494 x   511 x 97.4


Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------


Date UT       Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle      Site                  Mission    Apogee/km    Target

Aug  1?       Warhead           Burkan-3           Yemen                 Weapon        300?      Dammam, S. Arabia
Aug  7 1500?  RV                DF-31/41?          Taiyuan               Test         3000?      Xinjiang
Aug 11 0607   SISTINE           Black Brant IX     White Sands           UV Astronomy  259       White Sands
Aug 12 0944   RockSat-X 9       Terrier Imp.Mal.   Wallops Island        Education     154       Atlantic
Aug 23 2145   RV                DPRK-MLRS          Sondok, N Korea       Test           97       Sea of Japan
Aug 23 2202   RV                DPRK-MLRS          Sondok, N Korea       Test           97       Sea of Japan
Aug 24        RV x 4?           Sineva            K-114, N Pole region   Test         1000?      Chizha
Aug 24        RV x 6?           Bulava            K-535, Barents Sea     Test         1000?      Kura
Aug 30        MBRV              eMBRM?             C-17, off Kauai?      Target        300?      Pacific
Aug 30        THAAD FTT-23      THAAD              Kwajalein             Intercept     100?      MBRV intercept
Sep  4        USN Mk 4 RV x 4?  Trident D-5       SSBN 739, WTR          Test         1000?      Pacific/Guam
Sep  4        USN Mk 4 RV x 4?  Trident D-5       SSBN 739, WTR          Test         1000?      Pacific/Guam
Sep  6        USN Mk 4 RV x 4?  Trident D-5       SSBN 739, WTR          Test         1000?      Pacific/Guam
Sep  6        USN Mk 4 RV x 4?  Trident D-5       SSBN 739, WTR          Test         1000?      Pacific/Guam

-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
|  Somerville MA 02143               |  inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
|  USA                               |  twitter: @planet4589              |
|                                                                         |
| JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html                                 |
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